Certain conventional systems provide for on-line initiated calls, sometimes referred to as “click-to-call”. Click-to-call provides users accessing a web page including an advertisement with a dialogue box which requests the user's phone number and occasionally other information such as name and an affiliate code the user is requested to transcribe from the website. When provided, the number is transmitted to the advertiser along with the affiliate's contact information for commission purposes. The advertiser calls the user back, and any sale is consummated over the telephone.
The foregoing conventional solution has not been well received by the online advertising community for several reasons. First, it is counter-intuitive for users to send their phone number to the advertiser, when it is the user who wants to call the advertiser. When a user wants to call an advertiser, he or she generally wants to pick up his or her phone and actually call the advertiser. He or she doesn't want to send the advertiser his or her number and wait for a call back. Users are also wary of sending their telephone number to an advertiser using these types of dialogue boxes because of online fraud. Also, by the time the call is returned, the user might have lost interest in buying the product, or had already purchased the item elsewhere. When alternative advertising models are considered (such as television and newspaper which represent the vast majority of advertising dollars spent), the click-to-call functionality cannot be used. As a result of these deficiencies, the click-to-call mechanism has limited utility.